1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a female to female cable television(CATV) splice connector and, more particularly, such a connector having a seizure element which engages the center conductor of a male cable at each end, and which is so designed and having such material of construction as to obtain a reduction of return loss of the radio frequency signal with minimal impedance mismatching, retaining its 75 ohm characteristics over a broad range of frequencies.
2. Description of the Related Art
The related art describes various CATV female splice connectors having a variety of seizure element configurations. The art of interest will be discussed in the order of their perceived relevance to the present invention.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,700,160 issued on Dec. 23, 1997, to Chum-Te Lee describes an electrical connector for interconnecting female and male contacts of cables such as CATV coaxial cables. A female engaging unit and a male engaging unit are connected by an intermediate section to form a conductive cable-engaging member. The conductive cable-engaging member is supported in a fixed position by an insulating member which is configured as a container with a hinged cover where upon assembly the conductive cable engaging member is placed within the container having an internal configuration so as to match the configuration of the conductive cable-engaging member and the hinged cover is closed and held with engaging members extending from the base of the container through corresponding openings in the cover. The present invention has two female engaging units at either end of the conductive cable engaging member separated by an integral elongated intermediate section. The intermediate section of the reference is made up of two parallel members, both of which are attached to what the reference female engaging unit would be described as a connecting wall in the generally "C" shaped engaging unit, while the intermediate section of the present invention is made up of two members, each of which is attached at opposing upper and lower portions of the engaging unit. The reference members of the intermediate section run parallel edge along edge while the intermediate section of the present invention run parallel members facing each other. The inventive insulating and support member is a split case design which better conforms to the inner surface of the generally cylindrical conductive housing.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,498,175 and 5,667,409, issued on Mar. 12, 1996 and Sep. 16, 1997 to Yeh et al. and Wong et al., respectively, describe female to female coaxial cable connectors, but do not employ a conductive cable engaging member or an insulator and support member having any similarity to those of the present invention.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,096,444; issued on Mar. 17, 1992, to Luet al. describes a female to female CATV coaxial cable connector having female inner coaxial cable receptacles in either end of an annular insulator similar to the present invention. The 444 each occurance patent has a similar end structure to that of the assembled end portions of a generally cylindrical conductive housing similar to the present invention. The conductive cable engaging member of the 444 each occurance patent differs substantially in design from that of the present invention, providing no comparable elongated intermediate section disposed between the two engaging units of the 444 each occurance patent.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,865,654, issued on Feb. 2, 1999 to Shimirak et al. describes a female to female connector for coaxial cables which considers characteristics such as impedance matching. The structure of the conductive cable engaging unit and the insulator and support member differ substantially from corresponding elements of the present invention.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,830,010, issued on Mar. 17, 1992 to Miskin et al. describes an impedance matched connector for data transmission cable. The conductor and the shield of the cable are attached to individual prongs which fit over a bar-shaped receiving structure. The present invention, although providing for impedance matching is distinct in that the connector is for a coaxial cable and necessarily features substantially different structure from the '010 patent.
None of the above inventions and patents, taken either singularly or in combination, is seen to describe the instant invention as claimed. Thus a female to female splice connector solving the aforementioned problems is desired.